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Aircraft Maker Will Produce Electric Cars in 2006
clarkie.mg writes "French aircraft maker Dassault has announced that they will team up with Hydro-Quebec to produce an electric car, available as of 2006. Hydro-Quebec will provide the lithium-metal-polymer (LMP) battery and the wheel motor propulsion system. The car will be built in partnership with a car specialist and sold in association with a large automaker not yet found."
See, this is what I hate.
Why can't car companies make an electric car that doesn't look like a bad futuristic science fiction movie? I mean, why do they have to make it sooo ugly that people will only buy it on the principle of fuel economy?
I imagine, if car companies made models of cars that looked *exactly* the same as their gas counterparts, and only marginally more expensive, that people would be willing to start making the switch. Appearances are important when choosing a car, to some people. They want things that are sexy. Not cars that will prevent them from getting laid for the next 5-7 years.
Not like the average slashdotter thinks along those lines, eh? ;)
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In Australia, in 2005 is the completion date of a solar power tower, they, sbp of Germany are building.
:-)
In short, the sun heats the air at the 7km diameter base 'glasshouse'.
This hotair rises, up the 1km tunnel, spinning turbines as it moves.
it's cool. (and hot)
Here another article I found.
So with more advances like this, we will get in the right direction !
Economic forecast prevent a
First of all, you're making a strawman of environmentalists -- I've never heard anyone seriously complain that a slow-moving wind turbine might decapitate a passing bald eagle.
Besides, even if environmentalists are all a bunch of extreme crazies, as you imply, and it really would be best to ignore them completely, then that doesn't mean we should purposely go out of our way to do the opposite of everything they say!
I'm not saying that fossil-fuels are evil and we should all stop using them, cold turkey, as of tomorrow. And I'm sure most environmentalists don't either. What about the perfectly reasonable position of:
1. Recognizing that fossil fuels cause air pollution.
2. Recognizing that there exist other possible sources of electricity that cause no or much less air pollution.
3. Concluding that as these other sources become more cost-efficient and practical, using more of these other sources and less fossil fuels is a Good Thing.
As for your implicit claim that even though fossil fuels cause air pollution, dams affect salmon breeding habits, so therefore both are equally evil, or so those zany environmentalists claim -- call me crazy, but I take the pragmatic view that, yes, hurting the poor salmon is sad, but not nearly as bad as air pollution which:
1. Contributes to the greenhouse effect, affecting most all terestrial life on Earth (including me!) 2. Causes smog, which could affect me! 3. Causes acid rain, which has wiped out virtually all life in some lakes, affecting those poor salmon of yours!!!
So, as you can see, even if you're not a looney environmentalist, there are plenty of good selfish (i.e. dirty neoconservatist) reasons to take the entirely radical jump of a gradual switch from fossil fuels to other sources of power.
Atheism is a religion to the same extent that not collecting stamps is a hobby.
Ford's hybrid strategy actually makes sense. Instead of putting expensive hybrid powertrains in cheap and already effecient small cars, they're focusing their efforts on SUVs and large cars. The Escape (SUV) will have a hybrid powertrain in the next year or so, and the upcomming Futura (and I'm assuming it's relatives like the Mazda6, upcomming crossovers, etc.) will have one as well.
Also the reason the hybrid Escape was pushed back was because Ford decided to do te engineering by itself from scratch (originally it was more of a publicity stunt and they were going to source a Toyota or Honda powertrain).
And I assure you Ford designed powertrains run with the best of them. There's no reason to think their hybrid system won't be equal to or superior to what's coming from Honda/Toyota, especially since they have more engineering resources at their disposal and are pairing it to a newer an better gasoline engine family.
GM seems to be aiming even higher by commiting themselves to hybrid full size pickups and SUVs in the next few years. That would make for MAJOR fuel savings. Of course it would be nice of them to have a car hybrid strategy as well...
Sometimes people just live up to the stereotypes - if the subject and attitudes were not so deadly serious it would be worth a chuckle.
As most disparagers on this page start in their own little selfish buble - so I will start there.
If you live in the rest of the world - gas isnt so cheap you can piss it away boy-racing a Humvee around the city for no real reason. Gas prices usually reflect the local and global damage it does - that way people buy more efficient cars.
In the EU this sort of 'small car' is popular cos its easy to park and manouver on our overcrowded streets. If more people drove electric cars you or your kids are less likely to suffer from asthma etc.
Burning fossil fuels to create energy is not pollution free - agreed, but is less harmful than thousands of I.C.Es pumping CO1, lead (in some places - still), SO2, ozone and all sorts of other filth directly into your childs face (or yours if you are short).
It is more efficient to filter emissions from a single large source than a million smaller ones, it is easier to monitor and maintain and often outside of popululation centres. Not pollution free - but preferable.
Once you take the rest of the world who isnt hooked on fossil fuels like Darl McBride and his crack, like British Columbia (mostly hydro), Iceland (mostly geotherm) and in some places you CAN get to the holy grail of emmision free transport.
Batteries can be recycled, or at least disposed of responsibly and with less seepage from say - oil or other liquid waste. Take into account the spillage, tranport, infrastucture and human suffering caused by the oil industry and the business of manufacturing and recycling the batteries look quite attractive.
Also your beloved presidente would not have to kiss Saudi ass or invade any more oil rich countries.
Sooner or later, the American fetish for cheap oil will be its downfall - not terrrrism, North Korea, liberalism or the European taste for mariuana.
And when it happens, I will rejoice in the ironic justice of it all.
This perpetual motion machine Lisa made is a joke, it just keeps getting faster and faster. - Homer
My wife showed me an article about a two-seater diesel powered Mercedes apparently now available in Europe and apparently coming to North America in a couple of years. If I did the arithmetic correctly, it gets about a hundred miles per gallon. If you run it on bio-diesel, the greenhouse gas problem goes away. It seems to cost about the same as a Toyota Echo.
Why the heck would I bother with an electric (or air powered) car?
Favorite quote; "There are liars, there are damn liars and then there are battery chemists".